Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 00:11:29 -0400
From: Steve Smith <sgs at aginc.net>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: The Constitution and the Citizen
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

"Strong, Lee" wrote:
>
>         Haddad's crime is a real, nonpolitical crime that he actually
> committed.  The website you introduced into this discussion admits that.  It
> is legitimate to arrest a person on one crime that he has actually committed
> even if you think he is ALSO guilty of another.

Yep.  We have a number of "crimes" that are very useful for nailing
people we don't like.  Overstaying a visa is one.  Given the famous
efficiency of the INS (see
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A16787-2002Mar12
for the most famous recent example), overstaying a visa is common to the
point of being unavoidable.

>  The US Government nailed Al
> Capone for tax violations, not murder, racketeering, etc.  Further, the site
> admits that Mr. Haddad is in communication with his lawyer, a Congressman,
> the media, etc., etc.  He is clearly not being held incommunicado and
> accusations of Nazi-like tyranny and "disappearances" are simply not
> appropriate.

Haddad is one whose name we know.  The 1200 figure for detainees was
bandied about quite a bit in the first couple of weeks after 9/11; I
think I remember hearing Ashcroft mention it in a press conference (I
could easily be wrong about Ashcroft -- I watched *a lot* of press
conferences).

A more recent article on the detainees is at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A45807-2002Jan14.
Unfortunatley, its numbers aren't really useful for anything.  It names
a bunch of groups, but there is no indication whether their classes
overlap, or if there are more classes.

>         Concerning Islamic charities being accessories to terrorism, some
> are, some aren't.  Unlike some, I do not automatically rule the statement
> that Haddad's charity is a supporter of terrorism out of the discussion.

If he knew that the money that he collected was being used for
terrorism, he's in deep doodoo.  That was illegal pre-9/11.  If he
didn't, then I'm not sure.  The PATRIOT act doesn't apply; it didn't
exist when Haddad was collecting money.

--
Steve Smith                                           sgs at aginc.net
Agincourt Computing                            http://www.aginc.net
"Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction has to make sense."